Electric igniter for gas-engines



in. 622,893. Patented Apr. n, 1899. E. w. GRAEF.

ELECTRIC IGNITER F08 GAS ENGINES.

(Application filed June 23, 1898.)

(No Model.)

NITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

ERNEST W. GRAEF, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

ELECTRIC lGNlTER FO'R GAS-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 622,893, dated April11, 1899.

Original application filed November 29, 1897, erial No. 660,022. Dividedand this application filed June 23, 1898. $e1'ial No. 684,235. (Nomodel.)

To all whon l it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ERNEST W. GRAEF, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Electric Igniters for Gas-Engines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an electric igniter for gas-engines, and has forits object to provide an igniter which is simple and positive in itsaction and which will surely create a spark when operated, and will doso through the shortest interval of time and with the least consumptionof current. 7

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts of the operation.

Figure l is a vertical section of the cylinder and case surrounding thecrank and connectingrod, also the combustion chamber and ignitingdevice, with the governor and the electrical igniter. Fig. 2 is anenlarged side elevation of the electrical igniter. 3 is an enlargedsection of the device shown in Fig. 3, taken through a line w o: in Fig.2.

18 is a gas-pipe leading from the gas-generating chamber to the valve 20through a channel in the chest 19 and thence to the explosion-chamber21.

19 is a chest or casing made integral with the cylinder, a part of whichis attached to the side of the cylinder and part to the cylinder-head.The valve 20 is the throttlevalve of the engine in the sense that it isthe main valve separating the explosion-chamber from the source ofsupply of gas. It is an ordinary circular valve mounted upon a stemseated upon a seat and maintained closed by a spring.

21 is the combustion-chamber in which the gas is exploded and whichcommunicates directly with the cylinder 30.

22 is the exhaust-valve, which is a valve similar to 20-a circular valvemounted upon a stem and resting upon a seat.

23 is a thimble secured into the side of the combustion-chamber, theinterior of which opens into the combustion-chamber and the exterior ofwhich projects into the exhaustpipe of the engine. This device serves asan automatic igniter for the gas after it has been Fig.

heated sufficiently to accomplish the result. The electric igniter maythen be disconnected.

27 is the exhaust-valve stem, journaled at its lower endin a bracket 45.Upon this valve-stem is mounted a governor by which the exhaust-valve iscontrolled. It consists of a latch 50, pivoted upon a sleeve 49, whichslides upon the valve-stem 27.

28 is a collar, and 28 is a flange on the bottom end of the collar,secured upon the valvestem 27.

52 is a weight on the end of the latch 50, the function of which is tokeep the latch in contact with the collar 28. As the sleeve 49reciprocates under the influence of the mechanism connected with thecrank the latch will strike upon the flange 28 and lift theexhaust-valve 22. The end of the latch 50 is beveled, and on the side ofthe collar 28 is a lug against which the latch strikes. If the latchstrikes this lug too hard, due to a toorapid motion of the slide, thelatch will be thrown by the blow out of the path of the flange 28 andwill not open the valve. Thus the speed of the engine may be regulated.This structure has been made the subject of another application pendingsimultaneously with this one, Serial No. 660,022, filed November 29,1897.

24 is the exhaust-chamber, through which the gas passes in escaping fromthe cylinder and combustion-chamber.

25 is the exhaust-pipe.

. 30 is the cylinder.

31 is a piston.

32 is the connecting-rod.

33 is the crank.

34 is the crank-shaft.

35 is a pinion keyed upon the crank-shaft.

- 36 is a gear keyed upon-a counter-shaft 38.

37 is a casing containing the crank and connecting-rod and through thewalls of which pass the crank-shaft 34 and the counter-shaft 38, whichhave bearings therein.

39 is an eccentric mounted upon the counter-shaft 38, surrounded by astrap which is connected to an eccentric-rod 40.

42 is a cap secured upon the end of the counter'shaft 38 and havinglocated eccentrically in its face a crank-pin 43, upon which isjournaled the end of a rod 44, which extends upward and operates theigniter.

44 is the igniter-rod reciprocated by the crank-pin 43. At its upper endit is bent, and at its bend it is provided with a shoulder 54. Theextremity of this rod is also bent out of its normal line and is marked55. The latter bend is only a matter of connection. 56 56 are a pair ofplates loosely mounted upon a stud 57, which is secured into the wall ofthe valve-chest 19. Upon the stud 57 is also loosely mounted eccentricdisk 58, which lies between the plates 56 56, said-plates and disksbeing secured together.

59 is a pointer fixed upon said stud 57. Beyond the exterior disk 56 thepointer is provided on its under side with a projecting pin whichengages holes in the disk 56 and holds the same in position when set.

60 is a spiral spring connected to any suitable point of the valve-chest19 at one end and to the reciprocating rod 44 at the other end, by whichthe rod is held closely in contact with the eccentric disk 58.

is a pin or shaft passing through the wall of the valve-chest 19 andprojecting both internally and externally. Upon its exterior end issecured the lever 61, the extremity of which is made circular.

62 is a lever pivoted at 63, having a bifurcated end which embraces thecircular end of the lever 61 and forms therewith a socketjoint in whichthere is some lost motion, viz: The fork on the end of the lever 62 issomewhat larger than the end of the lever 61, so that when it has movedthe lever 61 as far as it can move it and thrown the lever 65 intocontact with the stud 66 there will be an appreciable space between theend of the lever 61 and the opposite side of the fork. The fork willtherefore have to travel through this appreciable space before it willagain strike the end of the lever 61, thus making it possible for thelever to gain a certain amount of momentum before striking the lever 61.On the rear end of the lever 62 is a block 62 rigidly secured to thelever and also pivoted upon the pivot 63. To the back end of this block62 is secured a fiat spring 64, which projects into the path of theextremity 55 of the reciprocating rod 44. Upon the interior end of theshaft 60 is secured the lever 65, the extremity of which makes contactwith the stud 66.

66 is an electrical contact-stud which passes through the wall of thechest 19 and is insulated therefrom.

67 is a wire leading to a source of electricity, connected to thecontact-post 66 upon the exterior of the valve-chest. 68 is the otherpole of the electric generator, connected to any part of thevalve-chest, so as to supply a current to the lever 65, by which a sparkmay be made when the lever65 breaks contact with the stud 66. a

The operation of the device is as follows: In starting the engine thefiy-wheel is turned by hand, and the downward motion of the piston willsuck the contents of the generating-chamber 14 into thecombustion-chamber and cylinder. Another half-revolution of thefly-Wheel will carry the piston to the other end of the cylinderandcompress the gas there and in the combustionchamber. As the crank-shaftis turned the counter-shaft 38 will be turned and the rod 44reciprocated. As 44 rises, if the eccentric disk 58 is in position topermit it it will strike the extremity of the spring 64, raise saidspring and the levers 62 and 61, and throw the lever 65 in contact withthe electric stud 66. As the rod 44 continues to rise the shoulders 54will come in contact with the eccentric disk 58, which will throw therod 44 off to one side, disengage its extremity 55 from the end of thespring 54, and allow the spring suddenly to return to its normalposition. As it does so the forked end of the lever 62, which looselyembraces the end of the lever 61, so that there is a certain amount oflost motion in the joint between 61 and 62, will when moved by thespring 64 strike the end of the lever 61 a sharp blow and thus suddenlybreak the contact. One of the essential elements of my combinationconsists in a combination of partsby which an actuating mechanism iscaused to-move the connecting-levers until the contact of the electricaligniter is made and the circuit closed,when a spring 64,which has beencompressed, is suddenly released and by means of a hammer action breaksthe contact Very suddenly, thereby causing an effective spark. Thishammer action is one which may be embodied in various forms ofmechanism, the combination being that of an electrical igniter, meansfor closing the circuit of the igniter, a spring-hammer, and means forcompressing the spring-hammer and re leasing it at a desired period, soas to permit it by the sharp stroke of the recoil of the spring to breakthe circuit, thus disengaging the lever 65 from the'electrical contact66 and making a spark in the combustion-chamber which will explode thegas therein and operate the engine. This operation will be repeated withevery revolution of the countershaft 38 until the apparatus is properlyheated.

This application is a division of an application heretofore filed by meNovember 29,

1897, Serial No. 660,022, and the device herein shown and described,designed for the purpose of governing the engine and automat icallyigniting the gas, is the subject-matter of claims in an applicationpending simultaneously with this one in the United States Patent Office.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patents, is-

In a gas-engine the combination, of an electrical contactdevice locatedwithin the combustion-chamber, an oscillating shaft project ing throughthe wall of said chamber for op- IIO erating the same, said shaft andone pole of the contact device being connected to a source ofelectricity, the shaft upon the exterior of the chamber being providedwith a crank, a

5 pivoted lever connected to the said crank by a joint having some lostmotion, and a spring connected to and operating the second lever, meansfor actuating the spring-lever to move it and its connections to make acontact and then to bend and release it, the spring by its [0

